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One Nashville girl's journey to becoming a runner

Meeting the Blerch(‘s Creator)

Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) was in town on Friday to sign copies of his new book “The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances”, dedicated to comics about running. I went down to Barnes & Noble for the signing. After walking aimlessly around, trying to figure out how to get from the parking garage to the bookstore, I found myself inside an office building that had a back entrance to the store. I noticed a guy sitting outside who looked vaguely familiar. I possibly stared a little too hard because he noticed and said, “Are you going to the signing?” I was slowly realizing that it was Matthew himself and said that I was. “Want me to save an hour of your time and go ahead and sign your book?”

I happily took my book over to him, which he signed and drew a blerch picture in. We talked a little, and then I left to go into the store to await his talk.

Once inside and the shock had worn off, I remembered that I wanted a picture, so I went back out the store and asked if he would mind. He agreed, so I took this selfie.

This is biggest I have ever cheesed ever.

He apparently doesn’t allow for photos in the signing line, so I got a bonus! We talked a little more about running and how vegetarianism sounds like a good idea until you realize how much you like meat. I tried to convince him to bring a Beat the Blerch run to Nashville.

Then I went inside and listened to his talk on Charles Darwin.

He was super nice, and I hope he gets the chance to return to Nashville again! (Or that I find myself in a position to make it to a Beat the Blerch in another city.)

I told Jonathan that apparently my top skill in life was randomly running into attractive famous guys while aimlessly wandering around looking for something. (I also met Pekka Rinne while looking for hot chocolate at a Preds game. Now…when am I going to run into Ryan Gosling?) Really not a bad skill to have, I guess.